DeltaCredit Ruble Covered Bond Due in Dec.

Slated for December issuance, a mortgage covered bond from Russia’s DeltaCredit Bank is being shopped to both local and foreign investors, according to Sergei Grishaev, head of treasury at the issuer.

Moody’s Investors Service has given the RUB5 billion ($160 million) transaction a preliminary rating of ‘Baa1,’ two notches above DeltaCredit’s grade. It is the first covered bond rating assigned by the agency using its covered bond methodology, which gives value to the double-recourse nature of the instrument. The deal is secured by RUB5 billion of residential mortgage loans.

Grishaev said the pool of investors for the covered bond will partly overlap with those for the bank’s corporate paper. The transaction’s bookrunners are Rosbank and VEB Capital. DeltaCredit issued a bond secured by mortgages last year, but its rating was largely based on a guaranty from parent Societe Generale.